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Hello, Go Church family. I'm Lara and I'm with Pastor Matt Haraba.

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Hey everybody.

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And Gilbert.

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Hey Lara.

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Hi.

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Excellent.

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We did this in the first take this time.

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Yes.

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Praise God.

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We're excited to be back with you and we're digging deeper into our series called

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Pray Like a Champion.

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What a great study. What a great series. I'm really enjoying this.

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Me too.

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I'm enjoying this too. I'm excited to keep going deeper and deeper in the subject.

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And it's really enriching because it's something like most of what we do, very applicable, right?

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It's something that we can see what we've been doing or what we haven't been doing to a certain

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degree and just apply it further. And like we said, and you know, I keep going back to this,

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we want to keep going further and further on this trail of faith that the Lord put us on.

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And of course our minds matter. You know, this is what we've been talking about last month.

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And to be spiritually minded is life and peace. And we keep experiencing life and peace to a

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greater measure. But if we really want to keep going further on this walk, on the right trail

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that the Lord is taking us on, we need to stay connected to Him. We need to have the right

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communication and we need to be able to hear Him when we want to go further. So

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mentioning that, I want to say that this is week two of our podcast series and there's going to be

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week two of our Grow Groups as well. So far we've been talking about pray like a champion. Last

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week we really looked at the subject of what is a champion's prayer? You know, what does a

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champion's prayer look like? And we talked about what is prayer and why do I have to pray?

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And we also had some fun discussions in our Grow Groups. Hopefully we got to see ourselves

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in the illustration and see where we want to go and how we can go further. And this week

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we're actually going to talk about the Grow element of this series, which is how we can become

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champion prayers or like Pastor Matt says, champions who pray, right? Just to make it easier.

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And before we do that, I'm going to ask Pastor Matt to head to Luke chapter 18. We're going to

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read our key scripture, which is in Luke chapter 18 and we're going to go a little further.

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Yeah, Luke 18, Luke 18 verse one is our key scripture. And Jesus speak a parable to them,

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the disciples, to this end, that men should always pray and not faint. We've read that from a couple

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of different translations. The Amplified says not lose heart. But we haven't, we've, we've

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haven't dug deeper into the chapter. I want to jump down to verse 10.

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And I want to look at this picture of prayer together. Verse 10, two men went up into the

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temple to pray. The one a Pharisee and the other a publican. Okay, so probably a more modern

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translation would say a tax collector. The Pharisee here is the most strict follower

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of the first five books of the Bible. So the Pharisees were very strict in their application

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of the first five books of the Bible. And then they were proponents of or, or

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they were, let's say the, the doctors of the law. They were very aware of everything to do with

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God's commandments, not just the 10 commandments, but the 660 some commandments that make up the

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Old Testament. So this is a parable. This is a story that Jesus is using to illustrate a point.

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And he says, there's two people that are going into the temple for the purpose to pray. The one

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is a Pharisee. And when he says Pharisee, we know that this is someone that knows what the Old

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Testament scriptures say. So perceived as really religious. Perceived as very religious. Yeah,

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very, very much a doer, a practicer. And then we have a tax collector. And he says,

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very much a doer, a practicer. And then we have a tax collector and a tax collector is the very

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bottom of society. This is someone that has absolute, he's, he's living without a moral

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compass at all because he's participating with Rome in occupying the, the, the, the land and

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subjugating people to pay taxes to the oppressor, to pay taxes to the oppressor. Yeah. And, but,

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but this is an oppressed person who has bought their own freedom by helping the oppressor.

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So that's the contrast, right? Two ends of the spectrum. Of course, everything that I just said

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is on purpose judging from outward appearance. Right? So this is how people would see it.

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Verse 11 says, the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. I love the way this is the King James

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Bible that I'm reading. And I just love the way it's phrased. The Pharisee stood and prayed

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and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank you that I am not as other men are extortioners,

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unjust adulterers, or even as this tax collector. Imagine the scene. The Pharisee dressed very nice,

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has a great speaking voice, raises his voice and says, God, I'm so thankful that I am not like,

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and then lists a bunch of sins or sinners, and then points to this, this actual person.

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I'm glad, I'm glad I'm not like these people. I'm not like these people. I'm not like these people,

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and I'm not like this guy. This is the Pharisee praying with himself. I love that phrase.

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Because is he really praying that God is not involved? Right?

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Verse 12, I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. So the Pharisee is now listing

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what he's not like and what he does. Verse 13, and the publican standing afar off. So the publican is

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the tax collector. Sorry. Yeah. The tax collector is standing afar off. So he's off by himself,

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would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven. And he hit his chest and he says, God, be merciful

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to me, a sinner. Verse 14, Jesus said, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified

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rather than the Pharisee. For everyone who exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles

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himself shall be exalted. This parable is actually about pride and humility. But in it, we see Jesus

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uses these two vignettes, these two pictures of prayer. And the sin consciousness of the tax

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collector is not helping him. Right? We have to base our identity on who we are in Christ. But

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the religious man, his version of prayer wasn't about God at all. It wasn't what we talked about

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what we talked about last week. Prayer is communicating with God, talking to him,

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having a conversation with our loving father. This is him. Really, he's talking to everybody

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around him. And I kind of wanted to draw attention to that, because when we talk about being a

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champion prayer, one who prays, we don't mean that you sound really good when you pray, that you

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have a really great articulation, that you impress people. Wow, he really knows how to pray. She

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really knows how to pray. Being a champion prayer isn't about how we look to those around us. It is

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the connection we make with him. It is how we take his will and bring it to him in prayer,

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in a time of talking to him, in a time of communication with him, and release his power

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from his word into the now, into our situation. Yeah, that's really good. Honestly, as you're

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reading that, I'm thinking about what we've been talking about last week and what we're about to

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talk about this week. To be honest, what I see is the Pharisee talking and the tax collector talking,

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but what I also see is a man who knows about God, but he doesn't know God. Because if we're going

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to be champion prayer, so we've been talking about being a champion, and of course it's not the winner,

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or of course we want to pray as victors from a place of victory, but what really stands out to me

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about the word champion is we want to pray by aligning, but by being the person that the Lord

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relies upon to champion a cause. We want to be the champions of a cause, so we want to carry

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a purpose that is greater than ourselves and run with it. That is also the definition, or the second

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definition of the word champion. In order to do that, in order for me to align myself with the cause,

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it's so much more effective if I align myself with the character of the one whose cause I'm

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believing in. If you look at in the natural, great leaders are defined by

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how they make their followers feel about them, and how they allow someone to not buy into the person

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necessarily, but to buy into the cause. If I look at this from that perspective, I see that

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the Pharisee really doesn't align himself with the heart of God. He's saying, first of all,

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he's displaying pride. That is, this is who I am, this is what I've done, I thank you that I'm able

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to see myself that way. That's not really prayer, that's kind of gloating at some point, that's

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bragging. A second thing is that if he knew God's heart, he would know that God desires mercy and

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not sacrifice. This is what Jesus says. The Lord is merciful, He cares about people. His whole

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purpose is based around people. Everything that he does through Jesus is for people.

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Here we have the Pharisee talking about, I'm so thankful I'm not like this person, and that person,

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and that person, and look at this guy right here, this tax collector, I'm so glad I'm not like him.

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But at least the tax collector is understanding the heart of God. He's like, I thank you, you're

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merciful. I'm sorry I'm not this person who I could be, but I'm relying on your mercy. I'm coming

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to you in prayer, knowing that you're merciful. That is actually the heart of Scripture. The

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Pharisee, supposedly knowing the Scripture, should know that the Lord made a covenant with these

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people because of his mercy. Covenant faithfulness is literally the definition of mercy in the Bible.

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It's just so important to align ourselves with the heart of God so that we can effectively carry

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out the purposes of God. That is really what we wanted to talk about this week, which is,

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how do I become a champion in prayer? How do I become a champion in prayer?

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How can I develop myself to go there? There are really two things that I'm going to say to that.

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Number one is what we just said, which is we have to align ourselves with the cause that we are

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championing over our own cause. We need to become or embody the cause that we are championing over

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our own cause. We need to embody the cause that we are pushing forward, which is the Lord's things.

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Number two is we have to develop certain character traits to become more effective in our prayer

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lives. Of course, everything we're going to talk about is based in Scripture. We're going to look

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at tons of Scripture. There are four character traits that we're going to cover today. Number one

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is we need to be connected to the word of God. If we want to become champion prayers, we need to be

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connected to the word of God. Let's read John chapter 15 verses seven and eight together.

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It says this, if you abide in me, in my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it

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shall be done for you. By this, my father is glorified that you bear much fruit, so you will

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be my disciples. What do we take from this? Jesus is saying that if you abide in me, he is the word

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of God, right? He is the word made flesh. That is what Scripture says. Then he says, if my words abide

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in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. He's basically hinting at

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how to be effective in prayer. If my words abide in you, then you can be effective in prayer.

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To me, that looks in a sense like if you understand my will, if you really receive who I am

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in you and you understand my words, you understand what I'm about, you understand what I've said,

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you understand the context and the nature of my words, then you can be effective in your prayer

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life. Our desires will match his desires. Yes, that's good. It's also worth noting there, this is

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it starts with relationship. He says, if you abide in me, there's a difference between

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abiding in something, that means to live, to dwell, to make your home and visiting.

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There are places that I have visited before, but then there's a place that I live. It is the place

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where all my stuff is. It's the place where my wife has three Christmas trees. It is the place

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where the pictures of our kids are all over the walls. It's where my books are. It's where I abide.

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We cannot expect to be champion prayers if we visit him. We need to live in him. That's why

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what we talked about last week is so important, is developing that relationship where we become

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confident in who he is and understand that we should get acquainted with and frequently spend

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time with talking to our loving, living Father. Yeah, so good. I really like what Laura just said

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and it reminds me of the verse in James chapter four, verse three. James is pretty direct. I like

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this epistle and he says this, you ask and you do not receive because you ask amiss, that you may

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spend it on your pleasures. Motives matter. It sure does. Motives matter. It's true, we have to

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understand the heart of God or the nature of God in order to be effective. If we're connected to

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his word and we're aware, it enriches our prayer life. I can talk about that personally for myself

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where I've asked the Lord for answers in my life or I've asked him for certain things and he points

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me to scripture. This is like, oh yeah, first Peter chapter three, verse seven. It's like, what?

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What's this? Start going through the Bible and there are other times where just his words are

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just floating in me. So this is the process of meditation. Sometimes I've had conversations

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with a few people and they say, oh, how come you just memorized all these verses? It's like,

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I didn't memorize these verses. I just value what my Father tells me. And that's like, so it's in me.

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It's like sometimes you remember this very inspiring quote that someone says, but the fact is

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the word of God, like the word of my Father lives in me. So it's like a reference point in my life.

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So if I'm wondering what he wants or what he's thinking or what he's asking for, I can just pull

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that word out of my heart. And I know that's his nature. So I know that I can be confident in my

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prayer. So that like connected, being connected to the word of God really helps us develop our

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prayer. The primary way the Lord is going to lead us is through his word. That's the first and

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primary way. And that's how we know his will. And we need to build his word in on the inside of us.

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So we abide in him and his words take up residence in us. We learned that at Rehma.

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That's right. That's good. The second character trait that I wanted to move onto is the,

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is on the subject of righteousness and being aware that we are righteous. So let me,

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let me read this verse in James chapter five, verse 16. Again, James says,

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confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.

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The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. So he talks about the effective

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fervent prayer of a righteous man and that avails much. So what does he mean by righteous?

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Yes. So, um, second Corinthians chapter five, verse 21 says that God made Jesus to be sin

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for me, for you, so that we would become the righteousness of God in Christ. And what that

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means is every promise you can find in the word of God about righteous people applies to me,

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applies to you. And when we come to this verse in James,

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I'm a righteous person. Yep. And so if I'm a righteous person, when I pray, I, my prayer

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avails much in English. That's like, okay, what does that mean? But in the, in the language that

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that was written in, it says that my prayer makes tremendous power available. Yep. When we read this

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verse as with, through the lens of God has made us righteous. That means that when I pray,

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I'm not hoping for something. I'm not wishing for something. I'm making tremendous power available

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and applying it to a situation. Yep. So I want to quote what you were just quoting,

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which is the amplified classic translation of this verse. It says the earnest heartfelt continued

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prayer. So that's, that's what we've been talking about praying like a champion, right? So the,

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the earnest heartfelt continued prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available,

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dynamic in its working. Yeah. That's so good. That's so big. So if I'm aware that I'm righteous,

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then I, I'm also aware that this word is true, that the earnest, effective, constant, continuous

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champion prayer that I deliver or that I make works active, dynamic power in the world, in my life.

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So if I'm aware that I'm righteous, that enables my prayer. So maintaining a, an awareness or

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an understanding of my nature. So it's beyond character. It's nature at this point that I'm

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righteous helps me be confident that my prayers are being met by the Lord. So the, this, this verse,

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I want to read in, in first John chapter three, it says this verse 20, for if our hearts condemn

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us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us,

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we have confidence towards God and whatever we ask, we receive from him because we keep his

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commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. So if my heart doesn't condemn me,

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so if I'm not constantly thinking I'm a sinner, I'm a sinner, I've done this wrong. If I come to,

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to God, you know, and I ask him for something, he's going to lecture me or bash me about something

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else in my life. But the fact is when I'm confident towards God, I can do what pastor Matt said in,

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in the introduction week, which is I can boldly come before God and ask for what I want. And I

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know that I'm righteous and I know that because I have this relationship with him, because I have

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this right standing with him, that my prayers are being answered, that I can be confident in that

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answer. You know why that's key is if you, if you have that question about, well, I don't know,

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I don't know, because I, I just haven't been, I haven't been as faithful as I should. I haven't

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read my Bible like I should have. If you start condemning yourself, you'll be slow to go to him.

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You'll be slow to come bold, you won't come boldly. You'll, you'll like stand outside,

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stand outside, maybe I'll wait for a good time or I'll go ask, you know, and maybe Laura will

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pray for me because, you know, God always hears her when she prays. But the, this is, this is the way,

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this is the way the devil lies to people and keeps them out of champion like prayer because

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it has to be based in confidence and that confidence can't be rooted in my works. It has to be

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rooted in God's righteousness, which he has made me. Yeah. Praise God. I like the NLT version. Can

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I read? Yes. Just the last part. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power

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and produces wonderful results. That's right. Wonderful results. That's what we keep going back

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to this whole month. Prayer is supposed to bring results as the reason for our prayer.

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Oh, that's amazing. So we, we talked about two character traits so far. So being connected to

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the word of God and being aware of our right standing or righteousness before God. So being

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aware that we have this direct open, perfect relationship, perfect union with him. And that

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means that he hears us. So what is the third one? These, these things might not seem like they're

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important or what does this have in connection to our prayer life, but we'll keep looking at it.

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We'll keep talking about it and you'll see how much this matters. Number three is walking in love

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and forgiveness. It's so important. It's so, so important. And actually, let me, let me read this

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scripture in Mark chapter 11. There are no people that are close to Jesus who were holding

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unforgiveness. That's right. He's not like that. Yeah. First John chapter four says that he is

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love and when we abide in love, we abide in God and he's with us. But what's the difference?

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But what's the opposite of that? If we're not in love, we're not in God. Yeah. And he's not with

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us. Yeah. Cause he can't be in a place where there is strife and unforgiveness and bitterness and,

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and just division because that's not his nature. He has nothing to do with it. He can't be in it.

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He can't be in it. So Mark 11 24 through to 26 is really a scripture that is, is so important to

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look at because a lot of the time when we study prayer, the prayer faith, applying faith, we look

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at Mark 11 23 and 24 and they're, they're, they're amazing. They're so powerful and honestly, they,

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they contain so much value and so much power, but they're not disconnected from 25 and 26. And it

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says this. So verse 24, therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe

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that you receive them and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, you notice that's

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verse 25, it says, and it starts with and, is this is connected. And whenever you stand praying,

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if you have anything against anyone, forgive him that your father in heaven may also forgive you

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your trespasses. But if you do not forgive neither will your father in heaven forgive your trespasses.

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Why, why are they connected? How is this so that my prayers are hindered by unforgiveness?

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Well, it's, it's simple. It goes back to what Laura was saying, right? That we have to align

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ourselves with the nature of the heart of God. How can I effectively pray and expect results if I

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don't align myself with his heart? You know, I can, I can align myself with his will, but I can also

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align myself with his heart. Yeah. And you, you can't receive from God in the place of unforgiveness.

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It's the, it's as simple as like, if you went to Cyprus, if you went to Larnaca today, you can't

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be in, in Lebanon because you're not here. You're there. If you're in the, if you're in unforgiveness,

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then you are not in the place of receiving. You are in the place of unforgiveness. And that is the,

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that is where you cannot receive because it is, it is foreign. It is distance. It is far from him.

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He's not like that. Yeah, that's right. You know, you can't expect to be effective in prayer if you

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don't align yourself with his heart. And this is demonstrated in Matthew chapter five, verse 44.

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And Jesus is saying this, and this is a big word. I mean, if you, if you're ever, it's easy to hear

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it until you really have an enemy, right? Or you really have someone who doesn't like you and

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you're dealing with them. And he says this, I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse

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you, do good, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute

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you so that you may be sons of your father in heaven. So he's saying, pray for those who

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spitefully use you. So how could I align myself with the prayer mentality or the prayer heart,

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the God wants for me if I don't align myself with the love of God? It's practically impossible.

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It's kind of, if you take the idea of disconnecting yourself from his heart and you try to pray,

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you know, you start, you start finding yourself praying selfish prayers that might harm other

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people. Obviously you can't do that. You know, this is, this is, um, it's kind of an obvious example,

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but that's, that's the heart of God in every prayer that you make. It has to be rooted in his

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nature, rooted in his cause, rooted in his commandment towards us. What is his commandment

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towards us that we love one another as he has loved us. And that is the nature that we are

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supposed to adopt. I have the, I have a personal, you know, illustration of the nature of the

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heart. I have a personal, you know, illustration about this, which I've shared in the past. And

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this is a time when, you know, there's a period of time when I was having really bad dreams,

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like terrible, terrible, terrible dreams. And like, it was beyond like the, you know, I had too much

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like garlic for dinner kind of dreams. This is way beyond that. And it was really disturbing me for

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like, I was up in terrors at night and it would just be so vivid and so, um, so tormenting, you

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know, that I don't know what, what word it is. And at some point I got sick of it. I'm like, I woke

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up in the morning, I'm, I started talking to the Lord, you know, like, listen, um, what's going on?

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I need an answer. How do I deal with this? What do I do? What do I do? And it was one of those times

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when I was in that situation. And he talked to me in scriptures, he mentioned 1st Peter chapter three,

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verse seven. I'm like, what? Okay, I started reading it and I really don't recall what it was.

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And I read it and it says, husbands likewise dwell with them. So wives with understanding, giving

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honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life,

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be hindered. I remember at that point in time during that period I was honestly

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having a lot of arguments with my wife and I wasn't being a very pleasant

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person. Not gonna comment on what she was or wasn't. My job is me you know and

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I know that on my part I could have done a lot better in the sense that I could

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have not engaged in confrontation, engaged in division, invited strife into

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my life or caused bitterness between us and the fact is I did at that moment and

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it's so funny because I'm talking to him about bad dreams that are keeping me up

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at night and he's talking to me about all these arguments I've been having

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with my wife and it made zero sense to me but the fact is they were connected

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and my heart at that moment in time is full of bitterness and division and he

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can't work, he simply cannot work in your life if you have an open door to the

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devil in your life and scripture tells you that you know don't let the

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sun go down on your wrath neither give place to the devil. Like your anger, your

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ideas of bitterness towards other people, your unforgiveness is an open door to

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the devil in your life. It is a position of strife so you are taking yourself out

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of the right place like Pastor Matt was describing it and putting yourself in

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the wrong place and that is all too real when you are trying to get something

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done in prayer and your prayers are getting hindered and hindered and

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hindered. That's because you know well I'm not gonna I'm not gonna I'm saying

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the opposite way if you are an unforgiveness that will hinder your

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prayers. Absolutely. Well that's that's a lot to think about but I want to

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mention the fourth trait or the fourth idea so I've been calling a character

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traits and I don't think it quite fits but the fourth element of a champion

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prayer is this so one who prays like a champion is this. It's being dependent

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upon the Holy Spirit. That's right. So the the Bible tells us that well let me

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rather than rather than butcher this paraphrase I will just read scripture

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which is Romans chapter 8 verse 26. Likewise the spirit also helps in our

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weaknesses for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought but the

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spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

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Now he who searches the heart knows what the mind of the spirit is because he

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makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. So a lot of

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the time you know we know what we want to pray for we know the will of God we

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know the plan and a certain situation. Pastor Matt was mentioning last week

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that a lot of the time when we pray and we're asking for an answer we're

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expecting it to come through a certain channel or in a certain way and the fact

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is why limit God? Right. Why limit him to say well okay I need this resource in my

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life so of course obviously the only way is that you bring me money right? Right?

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But there are so many other ways to do it. I mean someone could just hand you

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what you need rather than the money. There you know there could be a situation

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where this whole scenario changes and the whole need is just it disappears.

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Like there's so many ways he can work but a lot of the time we are limited to

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what we think we know. So we're praying and then we look not at him but we start

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looking at a situation that hasn't changed. You know we pray expecting the

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doctor's report to be you know negative for something and it's not negative for

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something we completely lose heart. We pray by sight you mean. That's right yeah

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that's really good. That's really well put yeah so a lot of the time we are

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praying but then we're limiting God and a lot of the time we we don't know what

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we don't know and that's where being dependent on the Holy Spirit can really

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enrich our prayer life. Absolutely.

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So this is this is something that you know Pastor Matt and I actually talked

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about and there's something that the Lord kind of put in my heart and it's

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something that just stuck with me which is when the Lord reveals his word to you

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you should say it but when he reveals his heart to you you should pray it.

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Which is so well said and I will tell you that this will this will help you

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this will help you grow and it'll help you hear more if you'll if you'll do

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that because as you pray especially when you start moving beyond yourself in

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prayer praying for others sometimes the Lord will will reveal something to you

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and you think I'm I should go say this I I need to I need to call this person and

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I need to I need to tell them what the Lord told me and then you do that and

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hey I just you know I was praying for you and I really got this in my heart

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that the Lord really loves you. Okay thanks and the whatever you share with

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them the person is like they it doesn't impact them the way it's impacted you.

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Oftentimes that's because they're not in a position to hear it and I don't mean

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just hey the Lord loved you I'm using that as an example but this is maybe what

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needs to change in someone's life and you can't instigate that change but you

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can help the Lord get access to them by praying for them. So oftentimes the Lord

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will show me something about someone and I won't say anything to them I mean I'm

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thinking one example it was a year before I said anything to them I just

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prayed about it I prayed that thing about them or for them and that's you

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know that the way you phrase it is so helpful to me to have that language of

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this is the Lord's heart we're gonna pray the Lord's heart and then sometimes

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we get a word a specific word and we want to share that word with them. Yeah

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you know and other times it's it seems like this so being dependent on the Holy

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Spirit or or having the Lord share his heart with you can sometimes feel a

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little negative like feel like I don't I want to be careful with my words that's

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the wrong word it's not feeling negative but feeling like a burden you know

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feeling heavy-hearted for someone because you just feel there's a lot more

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that the Lord has for them than they're doing or they're seeing or they're

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receiving right now and that's not a cue for you to complain about them or

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complain about the situation or nag about it or look down at them that's

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your cue to pray for them. No I think that that is that's an honest portrayal

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of kind of the impact on your soul your mind your will and emotions that picking

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up the Father's heart for people can have because if people are out of God's

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will if they are missing something that he has for them that hurts him and so

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you know we want to pray into a place of victory from a place of victory. Yeah

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praise God. So let me recap on these four traits or these four points which help

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you become more effective in your in your prayer life. Number one being

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connected to the Word of God being aware that you are righteous and you have a

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perfect relationship with God. Number three walking in love and forgiveness

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number four is being dependent on God being dependent on the Holy Spirit to

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make your prayer life more effective to supercharge your prayer life and in

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closing this week's podcast session that we're just having right now we're gonna

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talk about the Bible illustration that we want to share this this week in our

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grow groups and we want to talk about and that is in Acts chapter 16 verses 16

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through to 34 and that is the story of Paul and Silas in prison. We've talked

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about this and we've we've used this illustration many times but it's worthy

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of using many times in the beautiful story. The reason we go through these

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same scriptural illustrations is because in our grow groups we want you to work

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with verses and passages that you already are familiar with and where we

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can dig into these stories you already have some context you already know them

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and we can see these truths outlined for us. Yeah that's right so the context of

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this illustration real quick is this that Paul and Silas were were cast into

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prison because Paul cast a demon out of a a what was that woman the young woman

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that was basically possessed by a demon who was fortune-telling right and the

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person who was who was taking advantage of the situation who was making money

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off this fortune teller now lost the ability to make money off this fortune

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teller that really annoyed him and you know he pulled his strings and he he

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played played these cards where he got Paul and Silas thrown into prison and

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they got beaten they got bound very embarrassing very very you know sub you

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know substandard very very not not the ideal position to be in and you find

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this at that at that moment in time that Paul and Silas were praying in the

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prison singing hymns to God and all the prisoners were were there and listening

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to them and and then we see miraculous situation happen where where they

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miraculously get loosed from these change and loosed the prison doors come

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wide open and the story goes on a little further up to verse 34 but what we're

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really gonna focus on is this story from the perspective of the character traits

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that we see in Paul and Silas throughout the situation you know do we recognize

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these four traits that we've been we've been talking about today do you

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recognize the the elements of walking in love or forgiveness you know and I could

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say that straight up that the fact that they were singing you know the fact that

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they were joyful in a jail cell when they got beaten by certain people you

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can tell they weren't like bitter and huffing and puffing and grumpy and and

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and dealing with things in a certain way they were singing hymns in the middle of

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the night when they were beaten probably exhausted and just embarrassed and and

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all that but we go on to see other traits you know I will say that we see

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these traits beyond the story in Acts chapter 16 but we see this in other

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examples in Paul's life so for example Paul was connected to the Word of God

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connected to the Holy Spirit and and and those two elements sometimes work

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together and and the example is that there are times when the Holy Spirit

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forbid him to go into certain places to preach the gospel instead led him into

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other places you know we see that Paul was had the constant revelation of his

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righteousness a hint of that is the fact that he he says or he calls himself a

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citizen of heaven yeah in Philippians chapter 3 verse 20 and so he lived with

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with these character traits but what we're really gonna talk about during the

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girl groups is where do we see those character traits manifest themselves in

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this story what I like about this you know when says that they were praying

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Paul is in prison he's praying but look his answer affected everyone hmm when

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you look at the story everyone including the person responsible for the jail was

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affected by the answer to Paul's prayer yeah and they even reminds me of the

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story in Acts 27 where they were on they were in the storm right yes well we're

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out of time what we're gonna do is is Laura's gonna read out the week to

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action that we're gonna carry through our girl groups and through our week so

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this week we will write down three verses to pray over you pick the the

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listeners a person or a number of people and pray for them so if anyone has a

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need in your life we can pick three verses out and pray those verses

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intentionally pray for others that's good awesome well if no one told you

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yet today we love you we are praying for you and we'll see you next time

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thank you for listening to this message we want everyone to experience the

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unconditional love of God growing his love and go with his love to the rest of

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their world we invite you to connect with us at one of our groups for our

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next gathering and if no one told you yet today we love you and believe God's

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very best for you